carbon capture & storage

Committed to Coal?

The Department of Energy released “Tracking New Coal-Fired Power Plants” on 1 May 2007. The report reveals that coal is still king in the minds of many planners. In the U.S., 151 coal-fired power plants (some of which may have multiple generation units) have been proposed. These new plants would produce around 90 GW of power, and represent approximately $145,000,000,000 in investment. Although coal is currently the least expensive fuel for producing electricity, as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions become a liability, the cost of burning coal will rise. If all of these proposed units are actually built, the U.S. will be committing itself to many more decades of increasing GHG emissions. The only positive note in the report is the fact that of the 151 proposed plants, 34 are meant to be integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). Carbon capture equipment for IGCC plants is less expensive than for other types of coal-burning plants.